Trump Administration Deadlier for ICE Detainees Than COVID-19 Pandemic

By: Molly Gibson| AmericanImmigrationcouncil .org | Editorial credit: mark reinstein / Shutterstock.com

On September 29, 2025, in what has become a shockingly common occurrence, Huabing Xie died in ICE custody after suffering an apparent seizure. Xie, a citizen of China, is the 23rd person officially reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to have died in custody this fiscal year, marking 2025 as the deadliest for ICE detainees since 2004. As of writing, two more people have died in ICE detention since the fiscal year ended on September 30.

The first year of the second Trump administration has been even deadlier than 2020, when the unchecked COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the high death toll in detention facilities. The rising fatalities this year are likely caused by several factors, including acute overcrowding, abysmal detention conditions, medical neglect, soaring mental distress, and even gun violence.

Why are so many people dying in ICE custody?

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In less than a year, the Trump administration has increased the number of people detained in ICE facilities by almost 50%. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) incarcerates close to 60,000 people. The administration’s push for mass detentions and deportations has led to overcrowding as most facilities now exceed their contractual capacity.

Across detention centers, overcrowding has resulted in dire and inhumane conditions. For example, a Massachusetts ICE field office used a windowless room as a holding area packed with “35 to 40 men” who had to share one toilet without privacy and sleep “head-by-toe” on the concrete floors. Similarly, at Krome Service Processing Center in Florida, people were forced to sleep on the floor and only given “a cup of rice and a glass of water a day.” ICE is refusing to give people enough food in some facilities and provides rotten food at other facilities. These reports are understandably alarming family members and advocates.

Overcrowding and poor hygiene can spread and exacerbate diseases, leading to deaths. But medical neglect in detention can lead to equally harmful consequences. Sick detainees are being denied care, leading to unnecessarily worsening medical conditions. NPR reported that a man with a “serious eye infection for almost two weeks” and a “fever” was denied medication for both conditions.

In another instance, a previously healthy 23-year-old man was unable to walk due to pain after only a few months in ICE confinement because of medical neglect. The Venezuelan asylum seeker was frequently moved between detention centers without the ability to shower or change his clothing, forced to sleep on the floor, and frequently complained of pain. Nurses prescribed him antibiotics and pain medication, but his medical records show that he rarely actually received his prescriptions, and that ICE took his medications from him when it transferred him between detention centers. Ultimately, his symptoms worsened so acutely that he was “taken to medical in a wheelchair, assisted by fellow detainees, because he was unable to walk on his own.” This young man’s story is just one example of countless horrifying incidents occurring out of the public eye.

The Trump administration’s immigration detention policies and the resulting appalling conditions have also led to disastrous effects on detainees’ mental health. Three of the reported deaths are by apparent suicide. Twenty-seven-year-old Brayan Rayo-Garzon was found “unresponsive in his cell with a blanket wrapped around his neck” in April 2025. During his two-week detention, his appointment with the mental health clinic was rescheduled twice. In June, Jesus Molina-Veya was discovered “unresponsive with a cloth ligature around his neck tied to the bottom rail of the top bunk.” Chaofeng Ge was also found “with a cloth ligature around his neck in a shower stall” four days after his intake assessment. Many other people have reported experiencing acute mental distress in detention, including suicidal thoughts.

And noncitizens in ICE detention have another deadly threat to worry about: gun violence. Two people detained by ICE were killed by a gunman opening fire on an ICE facility in Dallas. This fatal incident was the third shooting at a federal immigration facility in Texas in recent months, bolstering fears about increased political violence. While DHS may not be able to prevent all external violence from impacting people in its custody, it can control the atrocious conditions within ICE detention centers that have caused the deaths of far more immigrants.

How is ICE getting away with this?

People in immigration detention have protested their inhumane treatment to raise awareness, but accountability for ICE remains minimal. For instance, a group of men at Krome staged a peaceful sit-in, while noncitizens in a California detention center staged a hunger strike protesting poor conditions. In New York, a federal judge ordered ICE to hold fewer people in the cells and allow people to shower more frequently at a Manhattan holding facility. But even with a court order, poor conditions persist. Until ICE drastically reduces the number of people it chooses to incarcerate, or elects to stop using detention as punishment, this disturbing trend is unlikely to change.

As of writing, only 17 of the 23 deaths are listed on ICE’s Detainee Death Reporting webpage. The other reports can be found wading through ICE’s news releases. But the official reports of deaths in ICE detention are not the end of the story. As previously detailed, ICE frequently seeks to release critically ill detainees prior to death, allowing them to avoid their reporting requirements. In addition, the Trump administration slashed internal accountability measures by shutting down oversight offices that oversee immigration detention. The agency’s lack of transparency and its obfuscation conceal the gravity of the inhumane treatment people face in ICE custody and allow ICE to avoid accountability.

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